CBC has set the premiere date for Test the Nation: Watch Your Language and will put the two-hour second edition of the interactive quiz show on air Sunday, Sept. 9 at 8 p.m. Wendy Mesley and Brent Bambury will host.

Viewers will be encouraged to participate in online ‘mental gyms’ at cbc.ca/testthenation. The site will go live on Sept. 8.

The CBC had originally planned to include a text messaging/mobile component in the show, but it will be postponed until future installments in 2008. The change was due to technical concerns about the quality of graphic rendering on mobile devices, which could have skewed test results.

The on-air competitors consist of seven teams: word gamers, ad writers, English teachers, fraternities and sororities, comedians, romance novelists, and celebrities. The celebrity participants include Cathy Jones, Sheila McCarthy, Kim Stockwood, Patrick McKenna, Sook-Yin Lee, Russell Smith and Andrew Coyne.

The first edition of Test the Nation in March raked in 1.5 million viewers against CTV’s Law & Order: CI and The Amazing Race. About 200,000 people participated online. The third installment of Test the Nation, with a world trivia focus, is scheduled for January.

From Media in Canada